UA Web Guide

UA Web Templates

Web templates based on the design and functionality of the current UA Home Page are available for usage by any official unit of The University of Alabama. There are three basic versions of the templates available, each of which offers numerous options for customization and arrangement of content. The template packages are organized into three different navigation types — one-level horizontal navigation, two-level horizontal navigation, and no horizontal navigation.

All of the templates are fully-validated XHTML 1.0 Transitional with tableless CSS layout, and the downloadable template packages include all HTML, CSS, original images, and any other files needed to customize the templates to your needs.

By using these templates, units of The University of Alabama ensure that their web site is closely tied to the University's top-level web sites and help build a cohesive and effective overall institutional web presence.

Intended Audience

These templates are designed to be used by:

web designers or developers

graphic designers

anyone familiar with HTML, CSS, and basic image editing software

If you are not one of the above and want to learn to use the templates, there are numerous resources available to help you learn the basics of designing web sites:

Getting Started - a step-by-step process for building a web site at The University of Alabama

Tutorials and Resources - a collection of web sites to help which can help you learn more about HTML, CSS, and various other topics web designers must know.

WebTide - the official blog of the UA web design community. This blog is regularly updated with helpful tips and articles about web design. If you see something that interests you, leave a comment and we will do our best to answer your questions!

Usage Guidelines

These templates are ONLY authorized for use by official University of Alabama entities or organizations. Any other usage of the code or images contained within these packages is in violation of the University's Copyright Policy.

To ensure consistent branding of The University of Alabama, we require that all sites based on the templates include an institutional identifier in the header of each page, as provided in the base templates. There are two different options provided for including the UA wordmark or identifier in the header, and one of the options should allow you to customize your site to your needs while still retaining an institutional identifier. This wordmark or identifier should link to the UA Home Page at http://www.ua.edu.

We also request that you refrain from closely mimicking the layout and content of the main UA Home Page, in order to preserve its unique identity as our institutional front door. The templates provide you with many options for arranging your content, and the content area is designed to be as flexible as possible to meet your needs. We encourage you to be creative within the templates while following our Design Standards & Recommendations.

Let Us Know!

Are you using these templates for your site? If so, we'd like to hear from you! Please send a link to your site to us at webmaster@ur.ua.edu so we can see the creative ways in which you have implemented the UA templates.

Templates Guide

The UA Templates Guide explains the basic design elements of the templates, details the grid structure upon which the templates are built, describes the process of customizing the templates, explains how to create content to fit within the templates, and provides further resources for learning how to build highly-functional and visually-engaging web sites. This guide is intended to be a primer for working with the templates, and we encourage all users of the templates to read it carefully before beginning any design work.

Web Templates

Each of the following web template packages contains all of the code, images and styles needed to fully customize them into a working web site. Examples of the implementation of each template are provided to help inform your decision about which template is most appropriate for your organization. The major differences in the template packages are the three options for top-level horizontal navigation, which you can see in the previews of each template. Any of the templates may be used by an official University of Alabama college, division, department, or organization, in accordance with the UA Web Policy and our Templates Guide.

Previous UA Web Templates

If you are looking for previous versions of the UA Web Templates, please refer to this page. However, we recommend using the newest versions of the templates, which offer the benefits of simpler customization, greater flexibility, and consistency with the overall UA institutional web presence.